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Wordy Wednesday (“Writer’s Digest Conference 2013, Notes Part 3”)

Sorry this post is coming so late to you today! I was distracted by freedom and a package of Twizzlers. And Batman. (It’s finals week. Class let out yesterday and I don’t have anything again until Friday morning. It’s sort of a problem.)

First up today: I want to dye my hair this summer–it’s something that I’ve wanted to do for years but never actually had the guts too–so now I’m taking a poll to see what color I should go for.

Second up: One last reminder from me to fill out the character form for This Is a Book to help Mel and me create some new, wacky characters to use in our genre-bending novelish masterpiece!

Third up: this week’s Wordy Wednesday is a continuation of my notes from the Writer’s Digest Conference East a few weeks ago. If you haven’t read my notes from the past two weeks, you can check them out by following the following links:

oDon’t count your hours, because you can get distracted during them (hello, Facebook). Count your words. But make sure you have enough hours scheduled to get that number of words.

–“You count the words, you make the time.”

–Listen for the sound of your own voice.

–Have fun—“the most important way to generate material”

THE STEPS TO REVISING

–SCENE

oFind all your scenes, put them in the right order

oDefine (1) where something happens, (2) where, because something happens, something else changes; (3) make sure it’s capable of series, (4) is in service of the overall scene, (5) is necessary to the novel.

oBrainstorm all of your scenes by giving them each a name—the only catch is that you can’t look at the book. Go through the list of scenes, highlight the good ones in green (good enough)—highlight bad scenes in fuchsia. “A bad scene is sort of like a bad relationship; you have to fix it before you can move on.” Highlight in blue the scenes that you forget—examine why they weren’t important enough for you to remember. Highlight in brown the scenes you still need to write.

oYou should always be writing.

oPrint out a list of your scenes, cut them up, try to put them in order—this helps you get new ideas and understand your story better, etc. Examine how the scenes react and interact to create emotional pay off. This is called “series.”

–SERIES: The repetition and variation of elements that work so that their repetition and variation make the book better.

oA scene MUST be capable of series.

oEvery time a series occurs, it’s an iteration of the series.

oA character, relationship, saying, etc can be a series.

o“Series is how a person becomes a character, an object becomes a symbol, and a theme becomes the philosophy of the book.

oSeries can be abstract or specific.

oThe series reveal your narrative arc. “SERIES is the new PLOT.”

oIterations of series create tension—variations of series release this tension.

oSeries—interact, inform each other in complex ways.

oWrite out all the series—cut them down until you just have the most important one, in one sentence—that one sentence is your book’s theme.

–THEME

oPut your theme in the center of a target. Take our subthemes (your other series) and place them around it on the target, the distance depending on how connected they are. Ultimately, you’re going to want to place everything on the target, from characters to series to scenes.

OTHER STUFF

–Kill your darlings.

–The tyranny of the first draft—you think anything you’ve already created is better than what you will create in the future. This isn’t true.

–Short narrative parts are “links.” Connective tissues between the actual scenes. An example of a link is the “voiceover link,” in which your narrator talks directly to the reader.

oOld-school did “scene and summary”—that was classic literature. It’s different now.

–You should have at least 60 to 70 pages written before using this method of revising.

–“Spend time thinking about what you’ve done before trying again and again to do it.”

a.For every scene, ask: What do the characters in the scene each want? What is the conflict in this scene?

b.For every scene, ask: What is the new info we learn in this scene?

c.Each scene should have:

i.Initial action

ii.But (or) therefore (or) meanwhile

iii.And then

13.Mini-map

a.Provide a 1-to-2 sentence summary of the action in each chapter. Do you have a lot of talking/thinking/action scenes in a row?

14.Compare the vision you articulated in #3-5 with the results of #7-13 and compile a “To Do” list of things you want to accomplish in a revision.

a.Don’t be afraid to think BIG, but take time to listen small.

–ACTION

15.Set a deadline for completing each state of revision and a reward for each one.

16.Work large to small

a.Wording’s the last thing; major plot/character changes are first.

17.Once you’re reasonably satisfied you have the big stuff done, highlight the following in different colors to find your balance, what each scene is conveying to the reader, etc:

a.Action

b.Description

c.Internal narration

d.Dialogue

Highlight each character’s dialogue in a different color—read through for:

a.Consistency

b.Voice

Cut adverbs, other than said, feel, etc—“I felt sad” should be replaced with “I was sad” (stronger language)—Remove passive voice. Use active voice. What’s dangerous is not one particular practice, but an excess of that practice. “Unhelpful babies”—kill your babies when they’re getting in the way of the larger plot you need to achieve. Watch your emotional tone.

18.Check your first line for resonance—needs to promise drama.

a.Last line—fermatas—last line of every chapter or scene should be a note you want to sustain in the reader’s mind.

19.Read the book aloud, or—better yet—have someone read it aloud to you.

20.Keep a copy of EVERYTHING. Never permanently delete anything.

21.Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good. KEEP CALM AND REVISE ON.

–You have 140 characters to capture your reader’s attention. You have 140 characters or 25 words to get an agent or editor’s attention. That’s a single line, paragraph, page, or scene.

–“The first page sells the book. The last page sells the next book.” – Old saying in publishing

–Take your favorite ten books off the shelf, read just the first page, and see if you can do the same thing they did.

–First and last page should reflect one another.

–The two most important pages are the first and last.

–The first two weeks as an agent, Paula got 1,000 queries—and they keep on coming. That’s a lot of queries to try to stand out from. But good material will stand out.

–1 in 200 queries is worth asking for material from

–Most writers can’t write a good synopsis—most agents will not hold that against you

–If an agent requests something and the synopsis—they will read the “something” before the “synopsis” generally.

–Reasons Agents Stop Reading:

oNothing happens

oI’ve seen it before

oThere’s no strong voice telling the story

oI’m bored

oI’m not connecting with any of the characters

oI can’t tell what kind of story I’m reading

oDon’t care what happens next

oThe plot is unbelievable and/or full of clichés

oThe dialogue doesn’t sound like “real people”

oThere are typos, spelling, and/or grammatical errors

–Agents, editors, readers—they’re a sucker for voice—a strong voice can save you

–Make sure your title fits your genre

–You want the reader to be asking questions

–Don’t go for the cheap joke if it’s not authentic

–Invest in your project—get a line editor

–Top Ten Reasons Agents Keep Reading:

oSomething happens (aka: inciting incident)

oStrong voice

oLevel of craft is high

oCharacters make you FEEL something

oWriter has gained the agent’s confidence

oDon’t know what happens next

oSomething unique about story/storyteller

oIt’s clear what kind of story is being told

oThere’s a market for this type of story

oThe prose is clean, clear, and concise—the 3 Cs of Prose

–Never open a book with weather. But if you have to start with weather, make it;

oBad weather

oPropel your plot

oAffect your hero in a bad way

oSet the tone

oSpeak to theme

–Avoid prologues

oIf you need a prologue, don’t call it a prologue—use a time reference instead (“Five years earlier,” etc)

oTry to use a device like a newspaper clipping, diary entry, etc instead

oApply a different format to set it apart from the rest of the book (italics, breaks, etc)

–Do not start with a dream

oSo many stories have done this, pulling it off in an original way *now* is tough

–Don’t start with a character alone, thinking.

oIf you do this, he’d better be doing something compelling at the same time, like:

§Committing a crime

§Finding a corpse

§Planting a bomb

§Etc.

–Don’t start with a phone call (especially in the middle of the night)—also, tweets, voicemails, etc.

–DO Start with:

oVoice

oSetting

oAction

oCharacter

oConflict

oScene

oTheme

oTone

–You have to:

oMove the plot forward

oEstablish genre

oHighlight voice

oDescribe setting

oReveal character

oSet the tone

oSpeak to theme

–Most of all START WITH A SCENE.

–You HAVE to have a killer first line.

–Scene 1 Checklist:

oWhat actually happens?

oWhy will the reader care about/relate to the characters?

oHow do you want the reader to feel? What have you done to evoke that emotion?

oHave you used all the elements of fiction at your disposal—setting, plot, character, theme, etc?

oHave you chosen the right POV/voice?

oDoes the dialogue ring true?

oAre the story questions strong enough to keep the reader reading?

oIs it clear what kind of story you’re telling?

oWhat makes this story different from the others of its ilk?

oIs the scene well-written and well-edited?

–If you can’t think of what makes your story special, you’ve got a problem—you want your story to be “just like [insert successful novel name here], but different because [insert kickbutt reason here].”

I liked the fact that there were so many opportunities to learn about revision this year–I definitely needed them!

Highlights can still be fun, I’m sure. 🙂 I’m trying to force myself to actually follow through with dyeing by making myself publicly accountable. I’m kind of terrified at the moment, but I have no choice but to do it now. Whoooo!

NAME OF CHARACTER: Halycon (I know it looks like it should be Halcyon but it’s not)

TYPE OF CREATURE/PERSON: She is a time-traveler who always wears a sunflower in her hair and loves outer space. She has dark blue almost black nail polish all the time and glitter all over because she is super duper awesome. She is really nice but she has a dark side so look out!

SPECIAL ABILITY: She can create fire slash hold fire because that sounds cool.

“The first page sells the book. The last page sells the next book.” — SAD DAYS. I mean, the last page I’m good with, the first is an issue. Also, BOOEY ON YOU GUYS FOR HATING ON PROLOGUES. I love them. I love them a lot.